Commemorative biographical record of Hartford County, Connecticut : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, Pt 1, Part 145

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1336

USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Commemorative biographical record of Hartford County, Connecticut : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, Pt 1 > Part 145

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At the age of fourteen Mr. Sullivan entered the employ of Robert McCrone, as a peddler of vegetables, remaining with him several years, and then embarked in business for himself as a dealer in fish, and later as a dealer in silver and tinware for seven years. In 1877 he became interested in the bakery business, in which he has since success- fully continued, having the only establishment of the kind in Thompsonville, and for a period of about fifteen years he has conducted a livery stable. He is also identified with several of the principal industries of the town, and is accounted one of the most energetic, enterprising and progressive business men of the community.

Mr. Sullivan was married, April 26, 1878, to Miss Mary Jane Clarke, a daughter of Patrick and Ellen Clarke, of Thompsonville, formerly of New York. They have six children living: Agnes, Will- iam, Ellen, Mary, Maurice and John. The family hold membership in St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, and Mr. Sullivan is also a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Knights of Columbus. Politically he is a Democrat, and he has served two terms as selectman of Enfield. The success that he has achieved in life is due entirely to his own well-directed efforts, and he has accum- ulated a handsome competence.

GEORGE H. HALE, the well-known horti- culturist of South Glastonbury, is the owner of "The Elms," a noted nursery, and was one of the founders of the famous Hale Georgia Orchard Co., the most extensive fruit growers in the world. His homestead at South Glastonbury has been in the family for 250 years, his ancestors having been pioneers in Hartford county, and in his genealogy many names appear which were honored in their day and generation.

The Hale family is supposed to have originated in Wales, and tradition says that the men of the name have always been noted for their size and strength. The Hales of Glastonbury are descended from two brothers, Thomas and Samuel, who came to Connecticut at an early date. Samuel Hale, our subject's direct ancestor in the seventh generation, was at Hartford in 1637, and received "the lot" for services in the Pequod war. In 1639 he owned land in Hartford on the east side of the river, but in 1643 he was a resident of Wethersfield. In 1655 he resided in Norwalk, and although he returned to

Mary J. Sullivan

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Wethersfield in 1660 he did not sell all his property in Norwalk before 1669. While residing in Nor- walk he represented that town in the General Court in 1656-57 and 1660. After his return to Wethers- field he hired the Gov. Welles estate from the "Over- seers," which appears to have been on the east side of the river, according to testimony in a case for damage from want of repairs, tried in 1671. It may serve to throw light upon the conveniences of those days to mention that this house had no stairs leading into the chamber, the second story being reached by means of a ladder. Samuel Hale died in 1693. His wife's name was Mary, and they had eight children, as follows: Martha, born 1643; Samuel, born 1645; John, born 1647 (married Han- nalı , in 1668, and died July 19, 1709) ; Mary, born 1649; Rebeckah, born 1651 ; Thomas, born 1653 (married Naomi Kilborne, and died Dec. 23, 1723) ; Ebenezer, born July 29, 1661; and Dorothy.

Lieut. Samuel Hale, born in 1645, died Nov. 18, IZII. He was one of the prominent men of Glas- tonbury in his day, serving as justice of the peace, and as deputy to the General Court from 1695 to 1706. In the Colonial Records the following ap- pears : "This court confirms Sergeant Samuel Welles Captain of the train band in the town of Glastonbury, Sergeant Samuel Hale lieutenant and to be commissioned accordingly." Lieut. Samuel Hale was married first in 1679 to Ruth, daughter of Thomas Edwards. She died Dec. 26, 1682, and he married Mary, daughter of Capt. Samuel Welles. His second wife survived him, and died Feb. 18, 1715. By his first marriage he had three children : Samuel, who never married; Mary, who married John Day, of Colchester; and Ruth, born Dec. I, 1681, who married Thomas, son of Eleazer Kim- berly. By the second marriage there were four children : Jonathan, born Aug. 21, 1696, was mar- ried Nov. 28, 1717, to Sarah, daughter of Deacon Benj. Talcott, and died July 2, 1772; David, born Jan. 7, 1700, died March 31, 1718; Joseph, born July 10, 1702, died Aug. 4, 1702 ; Benjamin is men- tioned below.

Benjamin Hale, born July 22, 1707, died July 22, 1784. His wife, Hannah Talcott, was born Oct. 16, 1706, and died Feb. 6, 1796.

Gideon Hale, son of Benjamin, was born Dec. 30, 1736, and died Oct. 10, 1812. He married Mary White, who was of the fifth generation in descent from Elder John White, of "Mayflower" fame, and they had children as follows: (1) Hezekiah mar- ried Parmelia Coleman, daughter of Dr. Asap and Mary (Wright) Coleman. Dr. Coleman served as surgeon in the Revolutionary war, first under Col. Thomas Belden, and later under Col. H. Wood- bridge. He also served several terms as representa- tive in the General Assembly. (2) Ebenezer mar- ried Sarah Cornwall, of Portland. (4) Elias mar- ried Jane McColland, and located in Towanda, Penn., where he practiced law. (5) Reuben mar-

ried a Miss Tracy, of Norwich, and settled in To- wanda, Penn. (6) Mary married Solomon Cole, a cabinet maker of Glastonbury. (7) Amelia mar- ried Aaron Kinne, a school teacher and a graduate CI Yale College. (8) Anna married Samuel Welles, father of Thaddeus and Gideon Welles. (9) Han- nah married Samuel Welles. (10) Esther and ( II) Nancy both died unmarried.

Ebenezer Hale was the next in the line of de- scent, and he and his wife, Sarah Cornwall, daugh- ter of Nathaniel and Jerusha (Foote) Cornwall, of Portland, had the following children: Louisa mar- ried a Mr. Coe, of Winsted; Caroline married Asa Foote, of Saybrook; Mary Ann married Benjamin Taylor, postmaster, and a prominent citizen in his time ; Sarah married Julius Hubbard; Henry mar- ried Mary Hollister ; Elias married Mrs. Anna Lee (nce Jackson), and settled in New York: Joseph married Clarissa Tryon, of South Glastonbury ; John Augustus is mentioned more fully below ; Emily and William both died in childhood.

John Augustus Hale, our subject's father, was born March 21, 1821, on the farm now occupied by our subject's brother, J. H. Hale. After a district- school course he attended Norwich Academy, at Norwich, Vt., and on leaving school he secured a position as clerk in the Hartford post office, where he remained some time. He then entered the employ of the Ætna Insurance Co., as an adjuster, and later became general agent, a position which he held at the time of his death, in 1855. . Had he lived he would doubtless have become immensely wealthy. He married Henrietta Moseley, a native of Glaston- bury, and a daughter of George W. and Mary (Wright) Moseley ; she died Dec. 6, 1879. Four children were born to their union: Isabelle C., Mary M., George H. (our subject), and John Howard.

George H. Hale was born Oct. 15, 1850, at his present home, and received only a limited educa- tion, much of his time in boyhood having been spent in doing "chores" on the farm. As he was but a child when his father died, the necessity for earning a livelihood was among his earliest impressions, and he and his brother John H. sought many ways by which they might add to the family income. The old farm offered a field for experiment, and their present extensive business began with a small straw- berry bed, which brought them eight or ten dollars. A hoe, a shovel, and a spade were their only tools, and a push cart, borrowed from a neighbor and afterward purchased for a dollar, was the only means of transportation, their present magnificently equipped system affording a striking contrast, as the following items will show: Their fruit farm at South Glastonbury, Conn., contains 200 acres, and about 36,000 trees; at Seymour, Conn., 100 acres, and 20,000 trees; at Fort Valley, Ga., 2,160 acres, planted with 335,000 trees, the biggest orchard in the world. In the Georgia orchard there are 250,- 000 trees in a single block, the view from the central

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packing shed showing the largest collection of peach trees in the world. A long day's drive is necessary to cover all the avenues of the orchard, about thirty miles. A special railroad track runs direct to the packing house, and special peach express trains carry the crop to distributing points on limited schedule. The evaporating house has a capacity of six hundred bushels of second grade fruit daily, so that only the best need be sent to market. Two hundred special refrigerator cars are in service from orchard to market. One hundred thousand crates and six hundred thousand baskets were required to transport the fruit crop of 1898. Upward of a million "red labels" were required for cars, crates and baskets, so that customers might be sure that they were getting Hale's peaches. The labels and circulars themselves weigh more than two tons, and would cover a two-foot path over thirty miles long if spread out. The operating of the Georgia orchard for the season of about six weeks requires a regular expenditure, before the fruit reaches the consumer, for labor, packages, labels, freights, ice, etc., of about $2,750 each day. There are two large packing houses, with capacity of assorting and pack- ing ten thousand six-basket crates of peaches daily. A single day's pick is often over one million peaches, each handled separately three times. Seven hun- dren people, and one hundred horses and mtiles, are kept busy each day in the height of the season to get fruit into the cars. "Red Label Hotel" lodges two hundred of the workmen, and there are twenty tenement houses in the orchard, with "camping grounds" for the rest. In 1897, an exceptionally good year for peaches, the gross receipts from all the company's interests amounted to $97,000, the nursery stock selling for about $10,000. Travelers regard the Georgia orchard as a most interesting sight, and a writer in "Harper's Bazaar" has said : "Nowhere else are there such peach orchards, and when one takes in hand a great ruddy-streaked, golden peach, wrapped in blushing velvet, tinted by the sun as lavishly as the West is at fall of day, its rich flesh dripping with luciousness, with that bitter- sweet and honey-tart flavor which belongs to all the other delicious things of life, as well the imma- terial as the material, one is tempted, for a moment, to think that if America has done no more for the world's pleasure, it would have done enough in this."

The production of such peaches is only accom- plished by intelligent supervision, thorough culture at all times, liberal feeding with proper plant food, annual pruning, and thinning out of surplus fruit so that the market crop may be perfect in size and beauty. When fruit is "ripe unto the harvest," pickers who are trained to know a matured peach at sight, under the leadership of a foreman for each gang of ten, carefully pick the ripe fruit from the tree, placing it in broad low baskets, with the ticket number of the picker in each basket. Low-down, soft-spring wagons, going about all the time, haul the fruit quickly to the broad, cool packing house,

and there nimble-fingered, bright-eyed girls assort the fruit into proper grades and sizes. Several foremen constantly inspect the grading, and if un- ripe or bruised fruit is found in any basket the numbered ticket indicates the picker who is re- sponsible, and a field foreman gallops away to right matters. From the broad canvas trays of the graders skilled packers gently but firmly place the peaches in the baskets, with perfect fruit from top to bottom, and every package just as full as it can be crowded. Six baskets go to the crate, and each basket is the same all the way through. Each crate as finished bears the ticket number of the packer, so that when it reaches the last inspector's table it is sent back for repacking by the proper packer if anything is wrong. Finally, after run- ning the gauntlet of four inspections, it is nailed up and transferred to a clean refrigator car, often in less than an hour after the ruddy cheek of the peach has signalled its ripeness to the picker in the orchard. No other orchard has any such system, and thus it is that Hale's Peaches are "Always best in market."

Our subject owns a one-fourth interest in the Georgia orchard, but has not taken an active part in the management since 1896. He is a keen and far-sighted business man, conservative in his methods, and as a good citizen he has been active in local affairs. In politics he is a Republican. He belongs to Glastonbury Grange, and attends the Congregational Church, of which his wife is a member.

On Oct. 29, 1889, Mr. Hale was married to Miss Emma Shipman, daughter of Charles Ship- man, a farmer in South Glastonbury, and they have one child, Marjorie.

HON. CHARLES DEXTER BENT, a well- known and popular citizen of Enfield, is a native of Hartford county, born in Thompsonville Dec. 8, 1850, and is a son of Joseph and Fannie ( Cutler) Bent, natives of Neponset, Mass., and Brookdine, Vt., respectively. His paternal grandfather was William Bent, of Neponset, Mass., and his maternal grandfather was Jonathan Cutler, a farmer of Brookline, Vt. Joseph Bent, who was a blacksmith by trade, settled in Thompsonville, Conn., about 1848, and there conducted a blacksmith shop. also dealing in carriages and wagons, for almost thirty- five years. He died Feb. 24, 1888. His children were Charles D., Joseph A., and Herbert N. (de- ceased).

Reared in Enfield, Charles D. Bent was edu- cated in the public schools of that town and in the Woodstock Academy, Woodstock, Vt. During his youth he learned the trades of a wood worker and carriage painter, which he followed for twenty years, After the death of his father he and his brother carried on the carriage business in Thompsonville for two years, and then removed to Pittsfield, Mass., where, under the firm name of Bent Bros., they

That I Bent

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

conducted a carriage shop for a year and a half. As their plant was destroyed by fire, our subject re- turned to Thompsonville and purchased the livery business of the late B. F. Lord, which he has since successfully conducted. He has won success by his well-directed, energetic efforts, and the pros- perity that has come to him is certainly merited. On Oct. 28, 1874, Mr. Bent married Miss Emily, daughter of Samuel D. and Eliza (Clark) Holcomb, of Enfield. She died Dec. 24, 1876, and Mr. Bent was again married, Oct. 28, 1893, his second union being with Miss Annie Harvey, a daughter of Park B. and Alathier (Humphrey ) Harvey, of Stafford, Conn. In religious belief our subject is a Universalist, and in political sentiment he is a Republican. For two years he served as a member of the grand jury from Enfield; he was elected to represent that town in the State Legis- lature during the session of 1899-1900, and on Nov. 6, 1900, was re-elected to the Legislature of 1901. He is held in high regard by all who have the pleasure of his acquaintance, and his friends in Hartford county are legion.

EPHRAIM ROOD, the experienced contractor and builder of East Hartford, is a native of New London county, Conn., and was born in Colchester, Sept. 1, 1836, the seventh of the ten children born to Alfred and Sarah (Sawyer) Rood.

Alfred Rood, the father, was born in Colchester, Conn., in 1796, was a farmer all his life, and reared his large family in respectability, as they all proved to be good citizens wherever they resided. Mr. Rood was a very large powerfully built man, and ca- pable of doing a wonderful amount of work; he met his death, by drowning in Newtown's Pond (now Haywod's Lake), at the age of fifty-two years. To his marriage, in 1814, with Sarah Sawyer, who was born in Hadlyme, Conn., in 1797, and was a daughter of Ephraim Sawyer, children were born in the following order: Rufus, who first married Selina Sedgwick and later wedded Amy Tucker, was the village blacksmith of Windham for fifty years, and died in 1892 ; Mary was married to Na- than Cobb, and lived and died in Rockford, Ill., John, a painter by trade, married Susan Rich, of Plainfield, and died in South Windham; William, an iron worker, married Mary Carpenter, of Rhode Island, and died in Providence, that State, in 1890; Henry, a blacksmith, married Abbie Fowler, of Moodus, and died in Cobalt, Conn .; Asa, a sailor, was a natural musician, and could play any instrument he ever saw or any tune he ever heard (he died at the age of twenty-three years, of consumption contracted by being in the water overnight, through the cruelty of his captain, off Van Dieman's Land, when Sir John Franklin was governor of that island) ; Ephraim, our subject, was next in order of birth; Alfred, a burnisher by trade, married Harriet Taylor, and lived a long time in South Boston, Mass., but died in Chelsea, Mass., and is buried in family lot in

Windham; Harrison Tyler, a blacksmith by trade, married Louisa Simons, served all through the Civil war in the Twenty-first Conn. V. I., Company D, and died in 1891, at South Windham, Conn .; and Annie Temple, the youngest child, died in New York at the age of seven years, her remains being interred in Cypress Hill cemetery, Long Island.

Ephraim Rood, his parents not being wealthy, attended school only four winters of three months each, from thirteen to seventeen years of age. He obtained his education by asking questions of min- isters and doctors, and by reading street signs and bill boards as he passed along. He was very studi- ous and ambitious, was a constant reader and de- voted to self-culture, and at the age of eighteen passed an examination and was granted a license to teach, following the vocation from 1853 until 1872, a period of nineteen years, in Scotland, Willimantic, Lebanon, South Windsor, Hartford and East Hart- ford, East Hartford Meadow, Manchester and Cov- entry. In East Hartford he taught ten terms in the brick school house near which Arthur Moore now lives ; in Manchester he taught the graded school ; in Hartford was principal of the Northeast district school, and at Coventry taught the high school near the Nathan Hale monument.

In 1872 Mr. Rood began his present business of carpenter, contractor and builder, having begun learning the trade in New York at the age of six- teen years, finishing it while a school teacher. He is naturally a mechanic, contracts for the stone and brick work for the buildings which he erects, as well as the carpenter work, and frequently removes build- ings already constructed, from one spot to another.

In 1857 Mr. Rood married Miss Vera A. Stearns, of Mansfield, who bore him two children : Alice, who died at the age of twenty-three, and was buried at Willimantic; and Alfred, a machinist of Hartford, is married to Crusia Pebbles, who has borne him two children, Vera and Alfred. Mrs. Vera A. Rood died in 1865, and later Mr. Rood married Miss Louisa L. Roby, daughter of Ebenezer and Laura M. (Bowker) Roby, and born in Cambridge, Mass. The parents of this lady died when she was very young, and she was reared in the home of Rev. Rufus Smith until her mar- riage. To this union have been born two children, Edward Storrs and Annie Louise. The son, Ed- ward S., who was born Oct. 25, 1867, was a man of magnificent physique, was a carpenter and sailor, and died of measles March 16, 1891. The daugh- ter, Annie Louise, born Nov. 21, 1872, was mar- ried to Robert C. Lawson, July 22, 1891. Mr. Lawson is a trusted clerk at Pope's bicycle factory, is ex-councilman from the Sixth ward, and an ex- member of the city amusement committee.

Mr. Rood has been identified with the enterprises of East Hartford for many years, and has always been a most useful citizen. Liberal in his political views, he has nevertheless served as town clerk for six years ; registrar of births, marriages and deaths ;

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trial justice for ten years, and grand juror for twen- ty years. He has also delivered many temperance lectures throughout New England ; is an orator of more than ordinary eloquence, and possesses a sur- prisingly retentive memory, which he can call upon any moment to furnish him with interesting reminis- cences and amusing anecdotes. He is not a member of any secret society, but is an attendant at St. John's Episcopal Church, of which Mrs. Rood has long been a devout member. He is one of the best- known residents of the town, and respected most where best known.

In 1894, when Ned Murphy, the great temper- ance orator was lecturing in Connecticut on gospel temperance reform, he fell in with Mr. Rood while holding a series of forty meetings in Hartford. A strong friendship sprung up between them, and for years after, if Murphy came within one hundred miles of Hartford, Mr. Rood was there; and in two cities where Mr. Murphy was taken suddenly ill while holding these great meetings Mr. Rood was telegraphed to come immediately and fill his place on the platform, which he did, and from these facts he was called "the Murphy of Connecticut." But what is strange about this, while Mr. Murphy's ac- quaintances were numbered by the thousands, among them being men of great talent and college learning, instead of calling on some of them, why did he clioose to send for a man whose educational advan- tages consisted of only forty-six weeks of schooling if a poor district school in the town of Lebanon, to pay for which he cared for forty head of cattle and four horses and chopped the wood for two fires ? Mr. Rood can tell stories of hardship, abuse, suffering and neglect that cause people of to-day to shudder, and wonder why he is alive, a stout, able-bodied man of nearly seventy years, and weighing 225 pounds !

ELIHU STONE WARNER, an honored vet- eran of the Civil war, and a leading citizen of Ken- sington, was born in Sunderland, Bennington Co., Vt., May 3, 1835, and is a son of Alpheus and Zil- phia (Seeley) Warner, the former born in New Braintree, Mass., Jan. 6, 1807, the latter in Arling- ton, Bennington Co., Vt., Jan. 22, 1811. Both died and were buried in Arlington. By occupation the father was a stonemason and contractor. The paternal grandfather, Zenas Warner, was born in Dover, Vt., in 1779, and died at the age of sixty- six years. Ile married Nancy Arnold, and to them were born three sons, Alpheus, Roswell and Zenas, and one daugher, Meriba, whose remains were also interred in Arlington, Vermont.

The carly education of our subject was acquired in the common schools of Sunderland and Arlington, and later he attended the academy at North Ben- nington, from which he was graduated when Prof. Cummings was principal of the institution. He then accepted a position in the square shop of J. Essex, at North Bennington, where he learned the trade, and worked at same until his enlistment in

the Union army during the Civil war. There he enrolled his name among the boys in blue Aug. 28, 1862, becoming a member of Company C, 14th Vt. V. I., which was mustered in at Brattleboro, Vt., Oct. 21, and went to Washington, D. C., two days later. The regiment was first assigned to the 2nd Brigade, Casey's Division, Reserve Army Corps, and as a member of the same brigade and division was transferred to the 22nd Army Corps in Febru- ary, 1863. They remained in defense of Washing- ton until June 25, 1863, when they were transferred to the 3d Brigade, 3d Division, Ist Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, with which they were con- nected until July 18, 1863. They were on duty at Camp Chase, Arlington Heights, Va., from Oct. 25, to Nov. 1, 1862, and then did garrison duty at Camp Vermont, Va., from Nov. 5 to Nov. 25. The regiment then moved to Occoquan in line of battle, covering the movements of the troops to Fredericks- burg, Nov. 27. They were on duty at Camp Ver- mont and Wolf Run Shoals until Dec. 4, 1862, and from that time until March 25, 1863, were stationed at Fairfax Court House. During this time they re- sisted Gen. Stewart's raid, Dec. 27-29, 1862, and were on picket duty near the Chantilly battlefield from that time until Jan. 19, 1863. From March 24 until June 25, 1863, they were at Wolf Run Shoals, and then marched to Centreville. They were in the Pennsylvania campaign from June 25 to July 18, moving to Herndon June 26, and to Guil- ford on the 27th. The same day they crossed the Potomac, and the Monocacy river June 28, and then moved by way of Frederick City and Mechanics- ville to Emmetsburg, Md., June 29 and 30; and were in the battle of Gettysburg July 2 and 3, taking part in the engagement when Pickett made his fa- mous charge. On July 6 they moved to Emmets- burg, and were in line of battle at Crampton's Gap, South Mountain, July 8. They moved to Funks- town on the Ioth; were in the engagement at Hagerstown, July 12 and 13 ; then moved to Sharps- burg July 14 and 15 : were at Petersville on the 16th; at Baltimore, July 18 and 19; New York, July 20; at New Haven, Conn., July 20 and 21 ; and from there proceeded to Brattleboro, Vt., where the regi- ment was mustered out July 30, 1863.

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Commemorative biographical record of Hartford County, Connecticut : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, Pt 1, Part 145

Author: J.H. Beers & Co Publication date: 1901 Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers & Co. Number of Pages: 1336

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1336